Gov. Justice and Dept. of Transportation give updates on Corridor H

TUCKER COUNTY, W.Va. (WDTV) — West Virginia Governor Jim Justice visited Parsons, West Virginia Monday afternoon to give an update on the construction progress of the long-planned Corridor H.

He was joined by the Department of Transportation as they explained all the progress and developments that have been made so far.

“It’s the number one project in this state that we need to finish, that’s all there is to it…and we wanna just keep on keeping on, just keep doing more and more and more. We’re on the verge of completing a billion dollars worth of work,” said Governor Justice.

Corridor H is an ongoing project that, when finished, will be a four-lane highway connecting I-79 in north central West Virginia to I-81 in Virginia.

It will also allow residents and tourists to commute around the state more quickly.

The meeting was held outside on the side of a road on a plot of land that apparently holds significance.

“The significance of this section is it will link up the last major community, that being Parsons to the rest of Corridor H, so that is significant. Expect a significant boost in economic activity and transportation activity from this section being open,” said Robbie Morris, Chairman of the Corridor H Highway Authority.

Morris took the stand before Governor Justice and gave a rundown of the most recent events for the project.

He said that since December of 2018, $120 million have been awarded to the construction of Corridor H from West Virginia’s congressional representatives in Washington, D.C.

An additional 13 to 16 million may be received as well if the proposed highway funding bill passes and could push construction even further.

“With the other grant funds that have come from D.C. lately, those are going to help propel it even past this point, the funding is quickly coming in to place, so we have tremendous momentum for Corridor H right now,” said Morris.

Many were pleased to hear this as the construction of Corridor H has been a constant unfinished project for years.

“We’ve sped up the time frame with the additional funding coming in and then of that nature, so we’re trying as quickly as we can to push and promote the completion of Corridor H, and seeing more miles, people are finally starting to see the end in sight,” said Morris.

Although Governor Justice said he would like to see the project section in Parsons completed by tomorrow, Morris said it should be finished in the year 2020.